Sal Polaris
Sal Polaris, or Sal Handrew Polaris, alternatively called Sal Handrew Polaris T'Nola by step-mother and father and also named Saal'Kazah by the quarian race, and represented as "The "Fractured Shell" in Mass Effect: Destination, is a local human living on the Citadel and an agent of the Citadel Security Special Forces. He also serves as the pivotal character of Mass Effect: Destination and it's predecessor story's. Biography Early Life Sal was born on the Citadel and raised to a very influential asari who took him in as her son after his related mother gave him to her when she started having struggles in raising him and suffering through financial difficulties. Though growing up on the Citadel, his step-mother would often visit Thessia, bringing him with her to intergrate him into her family. At age 6, he was given a mark on his forehead to symbolize his relation to his step-mother's family, which resulted in other members of his step-mother's family to label him a "taint". During when he was 10 years of age and while playing with friends, a ship carrying eezo-filled cargo, crashed. The eezo, in dust form, was exposed to the nearby play area through a ventilation duct. Sal inhaled massive amounts of eezo because he was playing tag and his sprinting caused him to breathe harder including the other children he played with. After playing with his friends, he started experiencing a fever and fainted from exhaustion. His step-mother rushed him to a hospital after his symptoms started worsening. Several tests revealed he inhaled eezo in the dust form it originated in. When his step-mother learned of this, she bribed the hospital staff 5 million credits to keep the information confidential, fearing his likely biotic potential will endanger him. Then being taken to Thessia, his step-mother gave him the family mark, making others in the family to label him a taint. Doing so strained his step-mothers connections to the family, yet despite the family's word, this did'nt have any massive impact on her reputation. Battle of the Citadel The Battle of the Citadel was a pivotal moment of Sal's life that would define his future to a great extent. During a close-encounter with a husk, he discovered his biotic powers, much to his surprise. Helping his close ones escape, he stayed behind to find his friends or any other survivors. Looking in the market section, he stumbled upon Yala'Gan nar Qwib Qwib, who was looking for safety and temporarily took Sal under her safety unaware of his combat experience. During their search they accidently came across a geth patrol and Yala was shot in the stomach area as a result, puncturing her stomach lining and enviro-suit. Sal, in vain, tried to stop the bleeding but could not save her and as a result of her death, seriously traumatized him. After Citadel forces retook the Citadel, Sal personally carried her body to the Migrant Fleet to honor her commitment to him during their escape. When finding a photo showing his mother along with a man he does'nt know, Sal takes this as a personal betrayal and takes the offer presented by Mira T'Gosa, to join the Citadel Security Special Forces. Notable Outer-Citadel Assignments Batarian/Human Relation Improvement Attempt After a previous attempt to improve relations between the Systems Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony failed, the Council sought to try once more and sent Sal Polaris, Vayla Demrega, and Kallen V'lera. In retaliation of the failed previous peace attempt, the Batarian Hegemony demanded they see Sal Polaris' biology under the suspicion the Systems Alliance is creating a new biotic super soldier. In return for him, the Hegemony would exchange a batarian female who was given serious genetic modifications which led to concern to the Alliance, that the Hegemony was illegally enhancing it's citizens in preperation of war. The exchange happens on the border of batarian space and Sal is exchanged for the batarian woman. Arriving on the batarian side of one of the hegemony's border science stations, Sal is interviewed regarding his age, blood type, family, former skin tone and eye color, and even his interface suit which was left untold by his escort party. Taking a blood sample, the medical team finds nothing in his blood, deminishing their theory of the Alliance creating a biotic super soldier. After a whole week, both sides return the captives to their respective sides. Omega Mission Tasked with going to Omega to eliminate a batarian arms dealer, Sal meets and falls for his contact, Keliva Ye'Merog. Eventually, they start a romance. Days later, being well-hidden enough to come out, Sal continues his mission but is caught after his cloak is disrupted by stepping in a water puddle left from a leaking water pipe. After a brutal interrogation, his captors learn of his affair with Keliva and plan to relay the recorded session to Batarian space. At their apartment, Keliva intercepts what his captors plan to do so and goes on a one-man mission to rescue him. Successfully finding a way in, she finds Sal bruised, bleeding, and hindered of the body effects from taking off his interface suit. The next day, Keliva plans to leave but not before it catches his attention. Seeing he will not stop, she falsely assures him and gives him one last kiss, that quickly causes him to lose conscious. Adoption Dispute Being placed in adoption after his mother and step-father were accused of child abuse, the aftermath of the custody went into a pernicious dispute over who would care for him. The dispute was between Rakarna Derolus and Mira T'Gosa argued who would be qualified to be a rightful guardian. 3 days after the dispute started, Sal's previous guardian, Aliana T'Nola, used her political influence to qwell the dispute and receive custody of him in her care. Reaper War and the Aftermath In Russia and enjoying the view of St. Basils Cathredral, Sal spots a reaper descending down and destroys the Cathredral instantly. He rushes for the village to warn them, only to be too late. Sal goes through the destroyed village and manages to find Vayla. At the same time, Kurlo is seen running from a reaper about to shoot it's laser. Sal watches helplessly as Kurlo is killed and begins to experience a more serious toll on his mentality. Meanwhile, the surviving villagers and remaining nearby Russian military forces, hide in a nearby underground Cold War bunker outfitted with current-gen technology. Sal commands the operations along with the Russian forces remaining commander. Then severel transmissions are recovered and are revealed to be Mark Petcher and Wade Valen, along with an unknown signature. Because of the emotional toll of Kurlo's death, Sal stays awake for 4 straight days as a result. After Sal is forced to sleep by Vayla Demrega, Wade Valen and Mark Petcher are killed and the next day, Nephamus, an awakened collector, is killed when a piece of falling building debris drops on him. On the day of retaking Earth, with the help of the SSV Stuttgart, Sal damages Eternal, a reaper. But he loses his grip on trying to make the finishing blow and is tossed out into space. Desperately trying to stay afloat in space after being caught in the Earth's gravity, he is hit by a piece of debris which knocks him unconscious. Suddenly waking up in a garden, he finds a quarian planting flowers who turns around reveal herself to be Yala'Gan, without her suit. Following his question if he is dead, Yala affirm's him he was founded by an alliance ship after they were given secret coordinates to his location while drifting in space. Before leaving, Yaa expresses one last hug before Sal re-awakes back on Earth. Thinking of last her words before her death, Sal speaks to himself "She said that to me once. And she was right." Rannoch Residence In 2192, Sal received a request to "visit" Rannoch by Admiral Zaal'Koris for his honesty for bringing the body of Yala'Gan to the migrant fleet after she died, a rather very rare eulogy to find among the council races. Several preperations were undertaken to cultivate him into quarian society such as, changing his name along with a household name, curing his disease which then would lead to the removal of his interface suit and the implanted nodes, and offering him a home. Despite the welcome by the quarian people, however, Sal was still left unchanged by the emotional toll set on him 9 years before his arrival. Appearance Sal is the normal height of a simple teenager and bears a different appearance than normal teenagers by skin tone, eye color, and personality. His skin tone has turned into a sickeningly pale tone with short to long trails of veins appearing marked evidently across his entire body which was the result of overusing his biotic potential, his eyes are fully white as a result of his eye implants, and his forehead bears a black-colored asari republic emblem (The visible veins connect to the pointy edges of the mark for unspecified reasons). All these differences from a normal human teenager, make others see him and brand him as "not human", even in his approximal adult years. In order to hide his pale skin from others who would be disgusted by it's horrific appearance, Sal would often place "digital make-up" that would turn his skin to it's original color tone before it's depigmentation to pale. However, should his skin with the holographic coating come in contact with any form of liquid (i.e. water, sweat) for an extended period, the holographic interfaces' would be disrupted by the liquid and then begin to malfunction. Under the armor and apparent robe clothing, Sal also bears an self-powered interface suit to help with his body adapt and eliminate a disease he contracted after his eezo exposure caused his immune system to be weakened as a result of the materials mutagenic effects. However, it was shown that he was cured of his sickness during recovery but still wears it as a safety pre-caution. Personality Sympathetic, out-going, and giving, Sal is the embodiment of a person who will do what is morally right. He refuses to lie, even hurt an innocent person, or abuse his power to fufill his personal needs. At times, he will step out of his peaceful side and adopt a more imtimidating attitude to protect those he holds dearly and the good people of his home. Unusually a rare trait to find from people in the galaxy, Sal cares deeply for quarians and never expresses common racism to any one of them he meets. Though this trait is rather rare to find in someone, to the public, this is no secret. Outside of his sympathetic, out-going, and giving personality, when alone, Sal falls in his PTSD disarrayed world. This is due to many events he experienced during the Battle of the Citadel and the emotional rejection from family. Often when remembering when the quarian pilgrim Yala'Gan died, he would then go into a rage-induced fit, destroying any nearby objects to vent out his sudden anger. Being rejected by his family, he would go through the same process and break down. Body Skills Sal is very flexible and strong for a teenager his age. His strength nearly equals that of a krogan. Examples of his strength were when he overpowered a geth during the Battle of the Citadel albeit he was enraged over the death of Yala'Gan. He held back a krogan who attempted to take off his helmet. Sal threw a small-sized crate at a 16 year-old human who insulted a passing quarian. His flexibility results in him being able to parkour through obstacles with ease. Do front-to-back flips, jump higher, and be more faster. Biotics Due to his exposure to eezo at age 10, Sal developed biotics through his childhood, unknown to himself as they developed. During the Battle of the Citadel, Sal discovered his biotic potential and performed with impressive skill but soon began to re-act the practice, unsuccessfully. He was given proper training by Justicar Ivana (Who observed him trying to use his biotics more better). Family Rami Polaris (Biological mother) His birth and only related family, Sal's emotional connection to his mother has nearly faded. Mostly due to his obsessive working and spending time with others. Attempts to re-connect his emotional attachment has been met with little-to-no success. With no intervention, this has caused Sal to commonly live away from her. Rami's marriage to Stark Anthony has only strained their emotional connections even farther, putting it to the point where it can severe at anytime. Hunnigan Polaris (Biological father) Sal has never even knew his father even when the day he was born. Much of his service has been open for view but this is not the case. Hunnigan secretly joined Cerberus just before his son was born and then later attempted to kidnap him. Upon learning his father was still alive and joined Cerberus, all expected emotional ties severed completely. He showed no emotion on letting his surrogate sister finish him, showed no emotion when stabbing his hands to subdue him, and not expressing any concern for his safety when he was being burned alive. Stark Anthony (Step-father) Stark is antagonistically, the opposite of Sal's expectations of him being in the family. Not a single feeling has develop over the months in Sal's life where he would speak or let alone be in the presence with. Sal is obviously aware of Stark's hostile attitude to non-humans and Sal himself. Stark views his own step-son as a juvenile delinquent and has been meaning to get rid of him on several occasions. Namely, give false reports of him doing drugs, murdering, and abusing his power. Months after marriage, it ended when he punched a currently pregnant Mira T'Gosa and caused her water to break. The result was Rami filing divorce due to losing custody of her only son. Matron (Step-mother) Sal expresses great affection and care to his step-mother. Matron is in terms of family, the strongest connected person he is very close to. Because of her great care to him, Sal reveres Matron a mother he would specially call. Even though he has damaged Matron's reputation in the family, this has not impacted the overall bond between them at the slightest. When moving back with her, Sal showed little refusal to move in with her. Ypran T'Nola (Step-mother's partner) Similar as his step-mother, Sal shows great care to his newly introduced father. Ypran displays every emotion a father would to his son. Though the introducing of Ypran in his life has left him questioning regarding that he would been with him earlier during his childhood. Trivia *The word "Polaris" is actually a star, also known as the North Star. It is the brightest star in the castellation Ursa minor. It is very close to the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star. *The adjective for this character is (PO-LAYR-RUS) *The name "Sal" may refer to actual people: Is also a nickname for Salvatore, a common Italian name. *Sal's confinement in his armor and that he has pale skin can be correspondent to the quarian race. As he is always in it, and is always wearing it wherever he goes. The only difference from them all is that the veins in his body can be seen. His cybernetics also distinct him as one of them but he is really human. Category:Characters Category:Dantanius Category:Humans Category:Destination Category:Citadel Category:Male Category:Adept Category:Citadel Security Special Forces